by Nate Chinen

12/08/2009

Coin Conversation

Programming note: tomorrow (Wednesday) night I will be at the Issue Project Room for a performance of Matana Roberts’ COIN COIN, a so-called “blood
narrative” that draws on family history, genealogy, folklore and myth. I’m conducting
a post-concert conversation and Q&A with Roberts. The evening -- featuring
her string ensemble, which includes violist Jessica Pavone and cellist Daniel
Levin, among others -- is a benefit for the Bread and Life Soup Kitchen, a
healthy-food initiative in Brooklyn.

I reviewed a previous
chapter of COIN COIN two years ago. Roberts tells me that the concept has
evolved considerably since, in form as well as content. The image above is from
her score, which makes that point better than I can here. I’ll leave further elaboration to Roberts
herself, via email:

This piece is much different in that the score is a game of
sorts and I experimented with it in
this way for a bunch of
different reasons. The main being so that I could also play this music with my
friends who are not players in the standard jazz tradition from where I come,
but whom are coming more out of a gypsy tradition of having incredible ears and
improvisational depth. I like playing this piece with different folks all over the place to try and mimic the
way in which a family tree can have so many gnarly branches stretched out in so
many different directions. Sometimes not so complimentary.

Below, a few more pages from the score, published with
permission. If this doesn’t pique some curiosity out there, I’m not sure what
will.